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Tag Archives: Greatest Commandment

Matthew 22:34-40

25 Feb

34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again. 35 One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”

37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22:34-40

Dear God, I heard Skye Jethani on a podcast last week talk about Jesus highlighting these two commandments when only one commandment was requested. He made an interesting point. He basically said, as I interpret it, that you made people in your image so when we honor each other we honor you. There was a lot of explanation as to how he got there that I won’t go into now, but I thought it was an interesting conclusion.

Verse 40 is interesting in that I’ve always seen the “entire law” part of it, but the part that says, “…all the demands of the prophets…” is important too. The prophets called for a return to you. Faithfulness to you. But they also called for benevolence and mercy for others. There is a reason that the closer I get to you the more the fruit of your Spirit grows out of me (love, joy, peace…). You encourage love in me. You are love. You are a mature, secure being. You don’t need to prove anything to anyone. So what I see coming out of you is a God at peace with his role as omnipotent creator and nothing to prove to little old me. You just want me to love.

Father, help me to love well today. We have a staff meeting this morning. Help me to love well. We have a finance committee meeting this morning. Help me to be the man you need me to be in that meeting. We have another committee meeting this evening, a board meeting tomorrow morning, and still another committee meeting after that. Help me to be everything you need me to be in all of these cases. Thank you for the prayers you answered yesterday for my relative who had a medical procedure. Thank you for your mercy. Thank you for your kindness. Thank you for loving us and caring. Help me to love others and care about them today. Help me to be part of your presence coming into this earth. And forgive me for my failures.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 25, 2025 in Matthew

 

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Peter & John — 1 John 3:19-24

12 Feb

1 John 3:19-24 NIV
[19] This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: [20] If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. [21] Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God [22] and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. [23] And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. [24] The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

Dear God, verse 23 reminds me of Jesus’ answer when we was asked what the greatest commandment is. He said that we should love the Lord our God with all of our hearts, soul, and strength and then we should love our neighbor as ourself. That sounds an awful lot like John saying here that we should believe in Jesus and love others.

It’s interesting to see what Peter and John took from their time with Jesus and brought into their ministries. For John, as I mentioned yesterday, it seems that he took his anger and self-righteous judgments of others and turned them into love and grace. There is still an obvious call to holiness, but it seems like, for him, holiness is first achieved by denying yourself and obeying your commands. And the first command is to love.

I’m sitting here and trying to go back and think about who I was 30-ish years ago and what some of the bigger areas were that you had to chisel off of me. I think the biggest was my insecurity and my neediness. Neediness is something against which I still fight. My need to be admired by others is still there, but it is still slowly diminishing. My neediness with my wife is much better than it was 20 years ago. I could go on and on with other things, but you get the idea. You have been working on my heart and soul for a long time now.

Father, help me to take my personal knowledge of you and use it to help others know you better. Love others through me. Help me to do what you command. Help me to do the work you have for me to do (both professionally and personally) and bless the fruit of that work as only you can. And do it for your glory and your glory alone.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 12, 2019 in 1 John, Peter and John

 

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Emails to God – Loving God with all of my Understanding (Mark 12:8-34)

05 Nov

28 One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; 30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 The scribe said to Him, “Right, Teacher; You have truly stated that He is One, and there is no one else besides Him; 33 and to love Him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as himself, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that, no one would venture to ask Him any more questions.

Dear God, I was in mass yesterday and these verses were the Gospel reading. I noticed something for the first time in verses 30 and 33. Part of the commandment as stated in the Old Testament and by Jesus is to say that we should love you with all of our mind. The scribe, however, changes that word to “understanding.” I looked it up in a couple of translations, and the change is consistent. Frankly, this change helps me a little, and it should help each of us receive your grace as we work out our faith with fear and trembling.

To say that I love you will all my heart, strength and UNDERSTANDING is big difference. The word understanding, for me, implies that there is grace for my limited mind. As long as I am giving you all that I have in the understanding department, then I am fulfilling what the commandment meant when it said to love you with all of my mind.

Father, help me to understand you better, and reveal to me where my understanding is flawed. I am sure that there are parts of my theology that have been corrupted by thousands of years of errant teaching that has been handed down from one generation to the next—mostly innocently, I’m sure. Help me to break beyond that and to feel your presence with me as I evaluate any given situation and submit myself before you and your throne.

 
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Posted by on November 5, 2012 in Miscellaneous

 

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Emails to God – The Greatest Commandment (Matthew 22:33-40)

10 Apr

34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Dear God, I guess the Pharisees weren’t impressed with the chief priests and Sadducees, and their line of questions, so they decided to their hats into the ring. But beyond the testing that was going on here, I’d like to actually look at the answer Jesus gave.

What does it look like to love you with ALL of my heart, ALL of my soul, and ALL of my mind? Frankly, I don’t see a way I can sustain that. Of course, you know I can’t sustain that, and that is why you sent me a redeemer. If I could sustain it, even for a moment, then what kinds of radical changes would happen in my life? What could you do with me if I actually devoted my whole heart, soul, and mind to you? I can’t even fathom it. I’m not even sure I can love my neighbor as myself, but that is at least a little more attainable than loving you the way I should.

Father, I offer you all that I am for all that you are. It’s not much, and it’s a terrible exchange from your perspective, but you are the one who made the offer. Now I am here (as I have been for the last 33 years, since I accepted you as my savior and Lord) to take you up on that deal once again. You can touch others through me. You can reside in me and bring me peace. Take me, break me, mold me, fill me, and use me.

 
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Posted by on April 10, 2012 in Matthew

 

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